Exchange Rates

100 Exchange Rates

This is the 100^th of these diatribes since retirement. Big deal. It’s about time and money.

The aphorism: Time is Money.

If so, then money may also be time.

In any case, we should have an exchange rate.

An acquaintance recently returned from what she described as a “…three week vacation in Canada.”

The Department Of Important Statistics, (fondly known as “DOIS,” which is pronounced “DOIZ, except in Quebec, where it is pronounced “DOI.”) has determined that based on recent currency exchange rates the three weeks in Canada amounts to nine days and 14 hours US.

The rate for Japan is 100 seconds for each US minute. In most of Europe, the US minute is worth 50 seconds. (This is an approximation, for the voltage that drives electric clocks in Europe is higher than it is here.)

In the UK, a US minute is worth only 30 seconds.

This can get a bit confusing.

And it’s kind of anti-intuitive. For example, we think of the British as slower moving than we are. But since the minute is worth only 30 seconds, the British move much faster than we do.

It’s equally confusing in Japan where we think of the Japanese as fast-moving. But if it takes them 100 seconds to accomplish what we accomplish in 60 US, it’s much slower over there.

The Italian Lira was even more confusing. Thank goodness the Italians had the good sense to adopt the EU standard. Makes it much easier to deal with them.

Now, we get to serious complications. For example, speeding on the road. If the speed limit is, say, 90 KPH or 60 MPH, in Britain, you are actually traveling 180 KPH or 120 MPH. This makes speedometers unreliable and makes you prone to getting pulled over.

Parking is also a problem. Two hour parking limit in the US would be only an hour in London.

There are no more 60 second radio or TV commercials anymore, so there’s no sense evaluating THAT situation.

Total nonsense, right? Wrong. There are going to be experts peddling this stuff in your lifetime. Well, maybe not experts. But guys who bill themselves as experts and who will have “invented” a new “science,” something along the lines of Economics or Sociology and equally …. Um… useful.

Tempology.

It’s a natural.

I'm Wes Richards, my opinions are my own, but you're welcome to them.

(c) 2006 WJR